How to make the perfect Victoria sponge cake

Andrew, my husband recently celebrated his birthday and requested his favourite cake. He absolutely adores Victoria sponge cake and so do I for that matter. I’ve made many Victoria sponge cakes over the past few years and I’ve built up a certain technique due to all of that practice! You know what they say about practice making perfect! The last one I made was actually the best one in a long time, so I just had to share the results with you.

If you’re planning an afternoon tea party, yummy dessert table or just wanting to bake for a special someone, then this cake is a very good option. It’s very simple to make using my method and it’s a versatile bake. You can add fresh strawberries to it for extra deliciousness and also add flowers for decoration. You can also pipe some buttercream swirls on the top of the cake if you’re feeling in a decorative mood. You can add different flavours of jam or replace the jam with lemon curd. Why not? For this blog post though, I’ll be giving you my recipe for the classic version.

Ingredients

200g caster sugar

200g softened butter, at room temperature

4 eggs, beaten

200g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp milk

For the filling

100g butter, softened

140g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

4 tbsp strawberry or raspberry jam

icing sugar, to decorate

Method

Heat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Grease and line two 20 centimetre sandwich tins. Soften the butter and sugar until the mixture is of a creamy, pale consistency. Slowly add the beaten eggs and milk. Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture. Gently mix until all of the ingredients together until fully combined. If using a mixer, don’t mix for longer than 2 minutes to avoid over mixing.

Divide the mixture between the prepared tins. Smooth the surface with a spatula or the back of a spoon, then bake for 20 minutes until golden and the cake springs back when pressed. Leave the cakes in their tins for 5 minutes, before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the filling, beat the butter until smooth and creamy and slowly sift the icing sugar into the mixture. Beat in the vanilla extract if you’re using it. Spread the jam over the bottom layer of the cake using a palette knife. Take a piping back and large star nozzle and pipe stars/shells on top of the jam across the entire bottom layer of the cake, leaving a bit of room around the outside. Carefully place the top layer of the cake on top of this layer. If you don’t have the piping tools, you can use your palette knife to spread the buttercream on the underside of the remaining layer, before sandwiching both layers together. Dust the top of the cake with icing sugar. Your cake will keep in an airtight container for 2 days.

Enjoy and do let me know if you decide to use my recipe. I’d love to hear your thoughts and see your pictures.

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Published by Rosefinch Studio

I'm Lauren Nesbitt, the designer, illustrator and founder of Rosefinch Studio - the home of illustrated paper goods. I live in Somerset, UK with my Husband and three miniature poodles. I love to post DIY craft tutorials, ideas, inspiration and snippets of my day-to-day life here.
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